00:00City Detectives Theory of Fagan Murder Outlined, The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, May 11, 1913,
00:06page 1, column 7. The journal presents first complete statement of case solicitor and his
00:11investigators. Seek to build how detectives think crime was committed. They maintain that Mary Fagan
00:17was left unconscious in factory near midday and killed later in afternoon, for the first time
00:23since the lifeless body of pretty 14-year-old Mary Fagan was found in the basement of the National
00:28Pencil Factory this morning two weeks ago. The journal is enabled to make public the theory of
00:33the City Detectives and others investigating the murder mystery as to how the crime was committed.
00:38Here is the theory. The theory in detail is that Mary Fagan arrived at the Pencil Factory between
00:4512 and 12 10 o'clock on Saturday, April 26th, that within a short time after she arrived there she
00:51was lured to the metal room on the second floor where she worked, that the big doors of this room
00:56were closed, making it almost impossible for the two men working on the fourth floor to hear
01:01any outcries, that she was overpowered and assaulted, that the assailant, realizing that
01:06he had committed a crime which would cost him his life if it became known, argued with her and
01:11entreated her to keep silent, that when she reiterated her intention to tell he struck her a terrific blow
01:17in the left eye, causing her to fall against the handle of the lathe, that the back of her head
01:22struck the lathe handle, rendering her unconscious and producing a wound from which the blood flowed
01:27freely, that the assailant then secured a cord and looped around her neck, after which he dragged
01:33her into one of the small dressing rooms nearby, placing papers or some old garment beneath her
01:38head to catch the flow of blood, that the door to the dressing room was closed, and the assailant
01:43went away, believing that the girl was dead or dying, returned later in afternoon, that later in the
01:52afternoon, when there was no one in the factory, he returned and either carried or dragged the body
01:57to the elevator, which he ran to the basement, that the peculiar motion of the elevator or the slackening
02:04of the loop knot in the cord about the girl's neck resulted in her partially regaining consciousness,
02:10that when the assailant observed this, he tightened the cord around her neck and dragged her by it over
02:16into the rear end of the semi-darkened basement, that he then tore the wide hem from the child's
02:21underskirt and knotted it about her neck to make doubly sure that she would be effectively strangled,
02:26that he then pulled the staple from the fastening in the rear door, either with the intention of later
02:31removing the body from the premises to the alley in the rear of the factory, or for the purpose of
02:37making it appear that the murderer entered and left the building by this door. The detectives have
02:42evidence to the effect that Mary Fagan went to the factory a few minutes after twelve o'clock.
02:47They hold to the opinion that she could have been attacked and left unconscious within a period of
02:52twenty minutes. Cord found in room. Cord of the kind found around the girl's neck, in the same lengths
02:58and tied with the same loop knots, is found, it is said, in large quantities in the metal room where
03:03they
03:03insist the crime was committed. Blood was found on the floor of this room and human hair was found
03:08on the lathe handle. Blood was also found on the elevator door. By actual tests they have
03:14demonstrated, it is claimed, that it would have been almost impossible for the girl's screams to
03:18have been heard by the two men working on the fourth floor. This demonstration was made, it declared,
03:24when the factory was silent and a lusty, lunged man shouted at the top of his voice.
03:28He could barely be heard on the fourth floor, it is said, although persons there were listening
03:33intently for his cries. It is the theory of the detectives that with papers or old clothes
03:38wrapped around the girl's head, no blood would have been found on the floor of the dressing room.
03:43The girl's left eye was badly bruised, indicating, the detectives think, that she had been struck a
03:48fist blow, and there were one or two bruises on her chest which could have been produced in the
03:52same manner. Cries heard at 4.30. Only ten or fifteen minutes would have been required, say the
03:58detectives, for the murderer to have taken the girl down the elevator to the basement.
04:03They have, it is said, a witness, a woman, who swears she was passing the pencil factory about 4.30
04:08o'clock on Saturday afternoon, April 26th, and that she heard a woman's piteous cries. According to this
04:15witness, these cries seemed to come from the basement and were cut short, as if they were muffled in some
04:20way. The witness says, it is claimed, she did not report the matter at the time because she thought
04:25it must have been a negro man in a fuss with his wife, and she didn't care to become involved
04:30as
04:30a witness in such a case. It is the testimony of this woman which leads the detectives to the
04:36theory that the girl was not taken to the basement until in the afternoon, and that she regained
04:41consciousness while she was being taken from the elevator. They explain their theory that the hem of
04:47the girl's underskirt was tied about her neck after she was taken to the basement by calling
04:51attention to the fact that there was no cord or other strings down there, and that the murderer,
04:57fearing that the cord about her neck would not be sufficient to strangle her, sought for a second
05:02noose and finding nothing handy tore the hem from her underskirt. This theory is also strengthened,
05:07the detectives think, by the testimony of Dr. J.W. Hurt, the county physician who performed the autopsy
05:13on the girl's body. He declares that she came to her death from strangulation, that the blow on the
05:18head was sufficient to render her unconscious, but not to kill her. Mesh bag missing. The detectives
05:24hold firm to the theory that Mary Fagan never left the pencil factory after she went there for her
05:28money one dollar twenty cents, but they are puzzled to know what became of this money and also the
05:33silver mesh bag which she carried with her and which contained sixty cents when she left home to go
05:39direct to the factory. As far as is known, all the other effects of the girl, including her parasol,
05:44were found in the basement. The silver mesh bag is missing, and the detectives have never been able
05:50to find the envelope in which the girl is said to have received her money. The parasol was found at
05:55the foot of the elevator shaft, which leads them to the theory that when the girl was carried down to
06:00the basement, the parasol was left on the second floor where she was attacked, and that the murderer,
06:05finding the parasol there when he returned, threw it into the elevator shaft. The above is a complete
06:12statement of the theory upon which the detectives, the solicitor general, and other investigators for
06:18the state are working.
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